Sunday, December 27, 2009

Potato, kale and pasta salad




After all the indulgence of the Christmas break I really felt the need to make a post about something lighter and healthier. And one thing that always makes any dish healthier for me is the addition of greens. I was also trying to work through cleaning out the pantry and found some pasta and a potato who was begging to be eaten soon. So I decided to use them all together into a carbalicious salad made a little healthy by addition of kale and dressed very simply with store bought pesto. Talking about pesto, I absolutely love the Genvoese pesto from Trader Joe's. I use that for pasta salad all the time with different combinations of veggies and nuts and its worked wonders every single time. It worked equally well this time with the unusual combination of kale, potatoes and pasta. If you like nuts, pistachios would be a great addition to this salad. I didn't have any on hand so skipped those and finished this salad off with a little bit of shaved parmesan. Here goes..

This is my third entry for the Recipe Marathon on One Hot Stove.

Ingredients:
1 cup fusilli pasta
1/2 cup boiled and chopped potato
1 cup kale, shredded into ribbons
1 tablespoon pesto
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon grated parmesan

- Cook pasta according to directions till soft.
- Heat a teaspoon of olive oil and cook the kale with a little bit of salt and pepper till tender.
- Combine the pasta, boiled potato and kale and add the pesto. Mix well.
- Add more salt, pepper if required and top off with the parmesan.

Makes 4 side servings.

10 comments:

  1. hey this looks really healthy and light...good for post festive celebrations..

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  2. Pasta, pesto and kale..very healthy combo for lunch. Looks colorful.

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  3. I love Trader Joe's pesto too- it is so versatile. You have used it in such an innovative way.

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  4. Deepa, Ruchika, PR and Nupur, thanks! Its amazing how a pantry cleanup can help in coming up with an unusual combination of flavors :)

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  5. I have recently discovered the wonderful flavor of Kale (guess what? I have a kale-centric recipe for Day 5 :D) this is perfectly light and nutritious ... Im going to bookmark it and make it on Jan 2nd ;)

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  6. Very simple yet flavorful dish. Great pic.

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  7. Wonderful recipe and a great click! Trader Joe's pesto is my favorite too.. it can be used in so many clever ways! This is my first time stumbling over your blog, you have a great space here with wonderful healthy and delicious recipes and great clicks too!

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  8. I always wonder about ways to use kale. This looks beautiful too.

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